Why it works: Sugar and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓
Fruit Blanc Mange
Ingredients
Directions
Stew the fresh fruit of your choice and strain off the juice.
Sweeten the juice to taste and place it in a double boiler over heat until it boils.
Stir in the cornstarch mixed with a little cold water while boiling, using 2 tablespoons of cornstarch for each pint of juice.
Continue stirring until the mixture is sufficiently cooked.
Pour the mixture into molds that have been wet with cold water and set aside to cool.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.
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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Cornstarch
- Thickens the juice into a set, sliceable blanc as it cooks and cools.
- Fresh fruit
- Provides the main flavor and color of the juice.
The step that matters
Continue stirring until the mixture is sufficiently cooked. Starch granules must be heated while stirred so they swell and thicken evenly; undercooked cornstarch leaves a raw, starchy taste and a weak set, and stirring prevents lumps and scorching.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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